PhonePe partners with SIDBI, MSME Ministry to increase small business formalisation and provide credit

PhonePe will work with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and the Small Industries Development Bank of India, to register more small merchants with the Udyam facility, and thereby open up more avenues for credit and availing government schemes, the company announced on Wednesday (September 10, 2025). 

Udyan is a platform by the government to formalise more MSMEs, and SIDBI has already worked on an “assist platform” to make it easier for merchants to register for an Udyam number. That assist platform is set to be integrated with PhonePe directly, with the company saying that this will allow merchants “access to government schemes and tax benefits, [and offer them] the ability to open business bank accounts, and access to the digital payments ecosystem and financial services.”

The assist platform “enabled the issue of Udyam Assist Certificates to more than 2.75 crore small businesses, over a period of more than 2 years,” SIDBI chief general manager Y.M. Kumari said in a statement. “This initiative will further accelerate the formalization of informal micro-businesses into the mainstream economy as well as ease out and enhance credit flow to these entities.”

Jitan Ram Manjhi, Minister for MSMEs, said at the announcement that 70% of Indians required better access to formal credit, and that the “blot” of this statistic would have to be “cleaned off” with initiatives like this.